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Posted September 27, 2013
"We have a rule, climbing in the mountains-you just don't fall," says veteran alpinist Mark Richey, "...but you do, sometimes." Before leaving for the Eastern Karakoram to attempt Saser Kangri II, then the world's second-highest unreached summit, Freddie Wilkinson and Mark Richey get a first-hand reminder of how abruptly the climb could go wrong.
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Posted September 5, 2013
Earlier this month, twenty-year-old Squamish local Marc-Andre Leclerc solo-climbed Squamish's Chief three times in 17 hours: the historic Grand Wall route, topping out on the wall via Upper Black Dyke; the 1970 Burton-Sutton aid line, Uncle Ben's; and the classic University Wall. What Leclerc found difficult was not the technical grade, the speed or the endurance required, but making the switch among three techniques: free soloing, roped soloing and ropeless aid.
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Posted July 31, 2013
For decades, the future legality of fixed anchor use in Wilderness areas remained uncertain. Because land management agencies had no national guidance to assist local planners and managers, each local park and national forest was left to interpret the Wilderness Act—as it pertains to fixed anchors—on its own, and with wildly varying results. Last month the NPS issued Director's Order #41 to finally clarify the agency's management policy in Wilderness areas. Jason Keith of the Access Fund tells us what is means for climbers.
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Posted July 29, 2013
Over seven days, Jens Holsten and Chad Kellogg made their way across the toothy ridgeline of the Northern and Southern Pickets in the Cascade Mountains. The ten-mile linkup would be one of the longest routes in the Lower 48—had they completed it.
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Posted July 11, 2013
Modern Sherpa climbers have achieved some respect within the commercial guiding community—their status the result of evolving power structures through decades of Himalayan mountaineering. But as we look into the background of the April 27, 2013 outburst in Camp II on the south side of Everest, one discrepancy becomes apparent: the credit and wages Sherpas receive for their work, as compared to that of their Western colleagues, has not caught up to the ongoing risks Sherpas face or to their growing responsibilities.
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Posted June 7, 2013
The Golden Age of climbing in Yosemite may have come and gone, but last week, Lucho Rivera and Cedar Wright proved there are still puzzles waiting to be unlocked by creative minds. I caught up with Wright between sips of coffee to hear more about what he calls "one of the best free climbs in Yosemite Valley."
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Posted June 5, 2013
Already through the three cruxes of the climb and just 600 feet from the top of El Capitan, Mason Robison did what we've all done before: pulled on a loose block. The rock fell, cutting Robison's lead rope and sending him to his death. Chris Van Leuven eulogizes the 38-year-old stone mason, analyzes the accident and teaches us something about Yosemite Valley geology.
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Posted May 9, 2013
In a collaborative effort to profile the late Bill Denz for our spring issue, Peter Haan and Paul Maxim enlisted David "Zappa" Austin to record his memories of one hard-fought link-up of Mescalito and the Dawn Wall of El Capitan in 1978. A snippet of Austin's story helps shape Denz's tough and tenacious character in "Boldness, Genius Magic: The Life of Bill Denz," Alpinist 42. Herein, Austin tells the rest of the unpublished story.
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Posted April 26, 2013
The name says it all. Everyone who is a climber has heard his name. Every climber has seen his name plastered all over the guidebooks and on route names like Kor's Flake, Kor's Door, Kor's Korner and the Kor-Ingalls Route. Layton Kor was ubiquitous in the 1960s. The man was everywhere, stirring up an impatient storm on the rocks wherever he landed.
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Posted April 8, 2013
One year ago I sat idly and watched as my friends enjoyed a beautiful, warm winter day of cragging at the New River Gorge in West Virginia.... I reminisced of moments from weeks prior: the sound of our machete as it cut through thick vines; the unmistakable metallic squawk of the Bearded Bellbird; waterfalls; flowers; heaven on earth; black flies; dazzling views; big walls; dirt in my eyes; ant bites; the sound of a breaking bone...
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